It’s now history. Mr Lionel Messi, among the greatest footballers ever, not only came to Jamaica as part of Inter Miami CF’s squad to face Cavalier FC, he played, and he conquered.

The more than 30,000 people who turned up at the National Stadium in Jamaica on Thursday cheered enthusiastically whenever spirited home-based club Cavalier showed enterprise and positive intent.

But most of all, they had come to see ‘Messi Magic’ which is why the cheers raised the roof when the World Cup-winning Argentine superstar entered the fray in the second half, and were almost as loud each time he touched the ball.

Mr Messi’s late goal — following a slick, well-timed run which positioned him perfectly to meet Mr Santiago Morales’s through-pass, and flick neatly past the ’keeper with his favoured left foot — capped a wonderful evening.

That was a moment that will live in the memory. For the impressionable young, in particular, it will probably never be forgotten.

For elderly Jamaicans the mind went back to the legendary Brazilian, Pele (Mr Edson Arantes do Nascimento), who graced the very same National Stadium field in 1971 and again in 1975.

For Inter Miami with their galaxy of stars — some past their best but still blessed with sublime first touch and know-how — this was a job well done, winning 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate over the two legs of the Concacaf Champions Cup tie.

For them it’s on to the quarter-final round with dreams of greater glory and an enviable trophy up ahead.

For Cavalier, with their talented, admirably fearless ‘ballers’ and the entire Jamaican football fraternity, the appetite should have been whetted for what’s possible if there is vision, enterprise, hard work and requisite support from Government and private sector.

As the vibe was being built for the arrival of Mr Messi and Inter Miami, Cavalier’s Head Coach Mr Rudolph Speid made the obvious point that it was not “…a Cavalier thing, it is a Jamaica thing ….”

And that “…you are going to see an outpouring of players who want to play football just because Messi [came]”.

A test for the football fraternity and the nation as a whole must be how to properly cater not just for that anticipated “outpouring” of young players, but for the many thousands already active.

Crucially, as a country we need at the very least to get our young people — girls and boys, women and men — playing on properly manicured and maintained surfaces.

Hopefully, it hasn’t been missed that at least one of the international news networks reporting on the game Thursday night described the National Stadium field as “bumpy” and not suited for the type of football both teams desired to play.

We shudder at the thought of what’s being said of the badly scarred, uneven surfaces our players use day in, day out, islandwide.

Much is made of the possibility that Jamaica could be among those at the FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 2026.

But if we are to truly achieve our potential as a football-playing country, and sustain such successes, we will have to do much better in preparing and building the platform.